Paula Kearney, Biodiversity Officer, Galway City Council, Ciar O’Toole, Senior Ecologist, MARA, Minister Timmy Dooley, TD, Karein Dubsky, Coastwatch Coordinator.
CLARE JUNIOR MINISTER, Timmy Dooley (FF) met with volunteers, sea swimmers, local and national authorities at a workshop and field trip on coastal water quality protection in Salthill.
Environmental group Coastwatch held the workshop recently where Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine Timmy Dooley TD (FF) listened to key outcomes, took questions from the floor and addressed the delegates.
Fiona Holland, Senior Engineer, Galway City Council, welcomed participants to the event in the Hardiman Hotel, which was preceded in the morning by a field trip to Salthill shore and seagrass bed, led by coastal ecologists and geomorphologists.
The event was the final of three such workshops organised by Coastwatch as part of a Horizon Europe project called More4Nature. The EU project aims to bring about transformative change in environmental protection by including informed citizens and communities as key actors in collaborative environmental law compliance assurance with authorities. In this case the focus is on water quality which needs to be restored and protected.
Forty people participated in the workshop, which included presentations and panel discussions before lunch, and then breakout discussion sessions until the official closing remarks by the Junior Minister. Authorities present included Galway City Council, MARA, Marine Institute, the Naval Service, EPA, National Parks and Wildlife Service, and An Fóram Uisce (the National Water Forum).
Building upon workshops held in Dublin and Dún Laoghaire in January and February, topics covered in Galway included best practise access to information, so that citizens can support compliance assurance, gaps in the water pollution incident detection- reporting- action- follow up- chain, and how citizen science monitoring and reporting can be used to help protect Ireland’s water and precious coastal habitats like seagrass meadows.
Karin Dubsky, Coastwatch coordinator said, “We were delighted that so many different authorities and stakeholders in the coastal zone participated so actively. A special thank you to Galway City Council for their support in hosting this event. Now we can’t wait to get cracking on the ideas and proposals to see actual results on the ground, including some citizen monitoring networks piloted around special features or pollution sources”.
Twenty one participants gathered in the Blackrock bathing shelters for the field trip. After a brief introduction, they entered the fascinating Blackrock beach, led by Kevin Lynch and Juan Yanez from University of Galway, Marie Louise Heffernan, Aster Environmental Consultants, Karin Dubsky, Coastwatch and Paula Kearney, Galway City Council.
Moving swiftly over mudflats where lugworm were trying to reorganise their burrows after the choppy weather and downpours, the group reached the water’s edge where Juan Yanez found a healthy blade of washed-up seagrass. Although the choppy water made it impossible to see into the seagrass meadow this time, spirits remained high.
Paula Kearney, Biodiversity Officer, Galway City Council said, “Kevin and Karin regaled the group with stories of spider crabs shedding their shells and taking refuge in the rich seagrass beds just offshore. Their vivid descriptions—and the passion of the local swimmers who’ve mapped and adopted the meadow—left no doubt that this hidden refuge and vital habitat is bursting with life. As direct follow up on the workshop, Galway city council, University of Galway, Coastwatchers and Salthill swimmers hope to also launch a pilot Salthill citizen monitoring and protection network around the precious seagrass beds”.
Bernie Connolly Coastwatch and More4Nature noted, “This would be among the first citizen science – authority collaboration networks set up around a feature in the EU supported More4Nature project and could then be showcased internationally”.
Kevin Lynch, Coastwatch Galway coordinator said, “From one great event to another. Next, Galway City Council’s Biodiversity Officer with the University of Galway, Galway Atlantaquaria, Clean Coasts and Coastwatch plan to also organise family fun events to connect people to the wonders or our coastline and marine environment to celebrate Love your Beach Week and Biodiversity Week between 14 to 26 May 2025”.
